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Regular readers of Global Cement will have become familiar with the tales of doom and gloom coming out of Titan Cement's various markets in recent years. With significant numbers of assets in Greece (economic turmoil), Egypt (political instability) and the USA (massive drop in cement consumption), Titan was hit hard by the economic downturn.

However, reading Titan's 2014 first half report was a nice surprise this week. Titan reported improvement in every single market that it operates in. Rewind by just 12 months, it is hard to imagine this kind of turnaround. The group reported a net profit, albeit just Euro2.9m, but this is a massive improvement on the Euro21.8m loss made in the first half of 2013. It reported its ninth successive quarter of revenue improvement in the second quarter of 2014.

Away from Titan's improved fortunes there have been other good announcements from an increasingly strong-sounding global cement industry. Other troubled multinationals, France's Vicat Group and Italy's Cementir Holding, have announced improved profits and regional producers Semen Indonesia and Tabuk Cement (Malaysia) have posted revenue improvements. There have been announcements of new integrated projects in Russia, Peru, Pakistan, Zambia, and the UK (yes... the UK!). There was also news of a joint Turkish-Ivorian grinding plant project in Ivory Coast.

The exceptions that highlight this recent positive trend were results from Siam Cement and HeidelbergCement. Siam Cement is being buffeted by continued instability in its native Thailand and its net profit was down accordingly. HeidelbergCement, slightly worryingly, followed last week's poor results from Lafarge and Holcim with a lower second-quarter profit. Cement sales, however, were up.

However, it looks like the worst could be behind Titan – and if it's behind Titan, could it be behind everyone else too? As Titan America's new CEO said this week, "Our company has successfully weathered economic storms on both sides of the Atlantic." Let's hope the seas are calm for the time being.

US: Titan America has appointed Bill Zarkalis as CEO for Titan America. Zarkalis joins from parent organisation Titan Cement SA, where he has served as CFO since 2010. Prior to that, Zarkalis was Titan Cement SA's executive director of business development and strategic planning.

"It was a great learning opportunity and a privilege to take a detour from a long career in business management roles and serve Titan as CFO and I'm now thrilled to be with Titan America," said Zarkalis. "The building materials and construction industry has faced a deep and prolonged crisis. Our company has successfully weathered economic storms on both sides of the Atlantic and I'm grateful for our dedicated employees and the character and leadership that it took to get through this difficult period. We'll continue to focus our efforts on restoring financial fitness while we build a healthier, more profitable Titan America. Our future looks strong and I'm confident about our continued growth and success."

Before joining Titan, Zarkalis served in a variety of executive positions with Dow Chemical, including global vice president of Dow Automotive, global business director of specialty plastics and elastomers and global business director of synthetic latex. He has represented Titan in the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the European Round Table (ERT) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI).

India: The director of JK Cement, Shri Jagendra Swarup, passed away on 30 July 2014. His replacement is expected to be announced shortly.

Greece: Titan Cement Group has announced that its net profit was Euro2.9m in the first half of 2014, an improvement on the net loss of Euro21.8m that it made in the same period of 2013. Turnover totalled Euro571m, up by 4% from 2013, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were unchanged at Euro89m. Titan said that foreign exchange fluctuations had a negative impact on its results in the first half of 2014 and noted that in a stable foreign exchange environment, turnover and EBITDA would have risen by 7% and 4% respectively. All markets in which Titan Cement has established activities grew in the first half of 2014.

In the second quarter of 2014, turnover grew by 2% to Euro319m, the ninth successive quarter of turnover improvement. Titan Cement's EBITDA was Euro58.5m, down by 9.9% year-on-year, while second quarter profits were Euro13.9m, a year-on-year increase of 164%.

Indonesia: Holcim Indonesia has posted a slight dip in its net profit in the first half of 2014, which it attributed to rising costs and a slowdown in the construction and property sectors.

Sales in the first half of 2014 grew by 10% year-on-year to US$426m, stronger than the 7% growth reported for the same period of 2013 when compared to 2012. Despite the sales increase, Holcim fell short of boosting its net profit, which dropped by 3.8% to US$38.1m from US$39.6m in the same period of 2013.

On 1 May 2014, the Indonesian government raised electricity rates by 38.9% or 64.7%, depending on businesses' power needs. The increases, however, will be gradual until the end of 2014. Holcim, which must deal with a 64.7% increase in electricity rates, recorded an increase in costs of sales to US$292m, while its operating costs went up by 15.9% to US$61.6m. In addition, its first half foreign exchange losses surged to US$2.34m, compared with US$871,000 in the same period of 2013.

Holcim has gradually increased its selling prices since late 2013 to mitigate its rising expenses. Along with other industry players, Holcim also had to bear weaker property and construction demand, which saw project delays as a result of legislative and presidential elections, as well as unfavourable regulations and macroeconomic conditions.

Holcim Indonesia's president director Eamon Ginley said that, despite a number of obstacles in 2014, the company was optimistic that it would at least secure a higher annual revenue compared to 2013's figure, assisted by a boost in capacity from its Tuban facilities in East Java. The company has invested US$800m to construct two 1.7Mt/yr capacity cement plants, Tuban 1 and Tuban 2. Tuban 1 began operating in October 2013. Tuban 2 is due to commence operations in the first quarter of 2015.

Russia: Krasnoyarsk Cement plans to launch its new dry-process cement line at the Krasnoyarsk Cement plant in 2014. The launch date will depend on market conditions. Construction will cost Euro262m in total, Euro19.5m of which has already been spent. Construction works began in 2009.

Malaysia: Tasek Corp Bhd has announced a net profit of US$9.7m in the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 42.5% from a net profit of US$6.8m in the same quarter of 2013. Its revenue was 20.8% higher year-on-year at US$53.6m, compared with US$44. The company said that the higher revenue was mainly due to higher demand for cement in Malaysia, with its concrete and aggregate units performing less well.

For the six months to 30 June 2014, Tasek's net profit climbed by 28.7% year-on-year to US$17.6m from US$13.6m in the same period in 2013. Revenue grew by 20.3% to US$104m from US$86.1m a year earlier.

"The ongoing government projects under the Economic Transformation Programme such as the MRT (mass rapid transit) and LRT (light rail transit) line extension projects, are expected to continue to lead the construction sector's growth in the remaining months of 2014," said the company in a statement to the Malaysia Bourse. It anticipates that its performance will 'continue to be positive' in the third quarter of 2014.

Ivory Coast: The Turkish cement firm Limak Çimento, a unit of local conglomerate Limak Holding, has announced that it will team up with Ivory Coast-based company Akfirbat to set up a cement grinding and packaging plant in the Ivory Coast in what will be a US$50m project. The two companies held a signing ceremony in the Turkish capital Ankara for the establishment of a joint venture company named Limak Afrika SA.

The plant, to be built in the Ivorian capital Abidjan, will have the capacity to grind 1.0Mt/yr of cement as well as being equipped to produce 1.0Mm3/yr of concrete. Construction will start later on in 2014 with operations expected to begin in October 2015. It is proposed that the output of the plant will be sold in the Ivory Coast as well as in other African countries.

South America: Brazilian conglomerate Votorantim has teamed up with Spanish company Cementos Molins to expand their cement businesses in Latin America through newly formed cement company Yacuces.

Votorantim will have a 51% stake in the joint venture. The agreement involves the purchase of 66.7% of Bolivian cement company Itacamba for US$18.6m by Yacuces.

According to a statement filed with Spain's capital markets regulating commission CNVM, Itacamba has plans to invest around US$220m in the next two years to build a cement factory. Votorantim and Molins already have business partnerships in Argentina and Uruguay through cement companies Cementos Avellaneda and Cementos Artigas.

Brazil: Lafarge and Holcim have announced further details on their proposal for comprehensive divestments in Brazil as part of their planned mega-merger to create LafargeHolcim.

As announced on 7 July 2014, and to anticipate potential competition authorities' requirements, the joint Divestment Committee has agreed to propose to Brazilian competition authority CADE a package of high-quality assets from both Holcim and Lafarge. This will include three integrated cement plants and two grinding stations that share a combined capacity of 3.6Mt/yr. Also included is one ready-mix concrete plant in the south east of the country.

These proposed divestments have been presented to CADE in the context of pre-filing negotiations and will now be subject to review and further discussion until a final decision is reached with the authority.

The divestment process will be carried out in the framework of the relevant social processes and on-going dialogue with the employee representatives' bodies and will be conducted in parallel to discussions with the competition authorities and potential buyers. The divestment process will be completed subject to the closing of the merger between Holcim and Lafarge.

A Lafarge and Holcim joint statement said that Brazil is an important market for the future LafargeHolcim Group and that the company will remain committed to the country, serving customers from a network in cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete.